Italy, India Have No Common Ground On Sea Incident

Italian merchant ship Enrica Lexie Napoli, left, with an Indian coastguard vessel in waters off India’s southern state of Kerala, Feb. 16.

Ever since two Italian naval officers were detained in Kerala, there is only one thing India and Italy seem to agree on: that a week ago two Indian men died in a shoot out somewhere off the coast of the south Indian state. They clash on pretty much everything else, painting a confused picture of what actually happened.

As even the basic facts surrounding the incident are a matter of dispute, it seems unlikely that Italy and India will reach an agreement any time soon.

Here are the various versions of the incident, based on official accounts:

The Indian version: Police in Kerala are investigating two Italian marines, who were in charge of security on a private oil tanker, over the killing of two Indian fishermen. They say the marines, mistaking them for pirates, targeted the fishermen’s boat. Indian authorities are looking into whether the incident happened in international waters, where India does not have jurisdiction, or closer to the Indian coast.

The Italian version: Italy’s defense ministry claims the two marines did not shoot the fishing boat. They say all they did was fire bullets into the air and water to deter the boat, which they suspected belonged to pirates, from getting closer. Before shooting, the navy officers flashed lights and followed other procedures to warn off the boat, which did not change its course. Italy has not ruled out the possibility that pirates, not fishermen, were on the boat. Italian officials are sure the incident happened in international waters.

There are other versions, too: At the risk of venturing into conspiracy theory territory, here is another version that has been floating around in shipping circles: What if the ships involved in the incident were not two but three and that the third ship was actually responsible for the killings? This is the theory of Michael G. Frodl, a U.S.-based attorney who heads a maritime risk consultancy firm. He told subscribers Tuesday he is “increasingly convinced” that the case involving “Enrica Lexie,” the Italian ship, “is the story of mistaken identity.” He suspects the two fishermen did not die in the confrontation with the Italian marines but in a separate shoot out involving “an armed guard team” from another tanker. (There is no hard evidence to back this up. Police in Kerala told us there was no other ship in the immediate vicinity and played down the possibility that ships other than the Italian one could’ve been involved in the episode.)

Whether Italian navy officers have immunity from prosecution in a foreign country or not is a legal gray area and the heart of the escalating diplomatic row, which raises questions on how far countries should go to protect merchant ships from the threat of piracy.

Here, too, the rift is deep. While Italy is treating the matter as a diplomatic one, for India it’s strictly criminal and one for the judiciary to handle.

Italy says that, as the incident happened in international waters and involves an Italian-flagged ship, they cannot be prosecuted in India and the matter should be handled at home. They say a United Nations agreement on the law of the sea, also signed by India, backs their claim.

India isn’t willing to say, without an investigation, that the incident occurred in international waters. But this, in their view, makes little difference: since the dead men are Indian, New Delhi claims their judiciary should examine the case. They also say that as the Italian marines were traveling on a private merchant ship, they are not immune from prosecution abroad, as the Italians claim.

The visit to India of Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Staffan de Mistura, who Thursday met with the two guards in Kerala, has so far failed to smooth tensions, instead exposing how deep the diplomatic rift already is.

“There is no agreement,” Preneet Kaur, Mr. de Mistura’s Indian counterpart, told reporters after meeting him on Tuesday.

“They have their interpretation and we have our interpretation,” said Ms. Kaur. “And yes, we will certainly go by our law.”

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